


masterpiece

by dontstraytoofar



Category: Big Little Lies (TV), Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty
Genre: Angst, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Romance, honestly? i love these two and these women and this amazing show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-24 20:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10749516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontstraytoofar/pseuds/dontstraytoofar
Summary: Madeline laughs as she nips at Jane’s neck, the night carries on, the ocean listens to their laughter. And Jane feels like she can be good again, that shewill.





	masterpiece

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone wants visuals to this fic, I wrote it to gemini by tash sultana 
> 
> i love this show sm, and these two just really were my fave tbh. enjoy!

 

 

-

 

The sleepiness of Monterey, with the sand that laps against its resident’s ankles, to the smell of salt infested air, comes with a darkness Jane finds the second day she is there. It isn’t so much she steps up into Ziggy’s orientation and is immediately hit with an “oh, this was a bad idea. definitely a bad idea moving” but it’s more of an uneasy feeling. As if rocking harshly on a boat, the sea salt waves hitting Jane’s skin and making her itch.

Her car window is down, her hair being picked up in the wind as she smiles back to her son in the back seat.

 “Ready for your first day?”

He looks up from the book he was reading, smiling lightly and nodding, and Jane looks back to the road with a warm chest. To the sun kissed asphalt. To the white clouds.

(To the woman yelling at three teenagers in a convertible? Who is now on the ground?)

Jane opens her mouth in question, furrowing her brow as she drives past and looks slightly into her rear view mirror.

 “Mum? She fell. Maybe we should help her?”

Ziggy’s voice takes Jane out of her stupor, whispering “Yeah babe” as she pulls over and unclips her seatbelt, jogging to help the blonde haired woman off the road with a worried frown.

 “You okay?” Jane holds to her elbow, watching as the other woman brushes off her knees and winces, limping on her high heels and sucking in a breath as Jane smiles encouragingly. “Took quite a fall there”

 “Fuck, yeah, I’m okay,” Jane watches another moment as the shorter woman looks up, pain evident in her eyes as she smiles in thanks anyways. “Thankyou…?” A small frown follows the woman’s question, and Jane sticks her hand out with a small laugh.

 “Right, sorry. Jane. Jane Chapman”

The blonde takes it with a smile, holding tighter to Jane’s hand in support of her ankle. “Well Jane Chapman, nice to meet you. Madeline Martha Mackenzie. Forget the Martha, no one calls me that”

She has freckles like constellations across her nose and Jane, looking back on it, tells it as Madeline being the first of the five. The first gear that sets Jane’s life in motion; into a spiral of that itty bit of darkness Monterey offers amongst its sunshine and blue skies and sun kissed people.

Jane guesses she herself is the spanner in the gears of each woman she has grown to love. Yet Madeline never faulted under Jane’s strain, never wavered under Jane’s darkness. Never has. Never will.

(The twisted ankle incident was their first meeting. Monterey decided to shove them together like it was going out of style)

 

 

 

 

 

-

 

It’s been three months.

Each woman’s chest aches, Bonnie still rubs at her neck line, Renata flinches at the sight of blood, Madeline’s marriage dissolves like rock salt in a fresh tequila shot. And if Jane could say anything for herself, it’s that her life is stable. It’s verging on _good_ and although Perry’s death and life plagues her dreams and wakes her up at night, Ziggy mumbles in his sleep and Jane forgets anything dark for a moment in time.

As the months progress, the five women grow closer. As if bonded. Glued and tied together, linked by a red string that refuses to tear. Bonnie makes them dinner every Friday night, it’s now a _thing_ and having a _thing_ with people is so new to Jane that sometimes, while halfway through sushi and green tea, Madeline pats her thigh under the table with a whispered “You good?” that makes Jane shake her head out of her staring contest with her chopsticks.

Sometimes she still imagines jumping off that cliff, but then she remembers Ziggy’s laugh and Madeline’s smile and a lot of bad things dissipate in her life for a moment.

(Madeline coming a close second to Ziggy is _frightening,_ the other women are her life line, but Madeline feels like something different. Something new and scary and _good)_

 

 

 

 

-

 

It’s Celeste that Jane visits the most.

There is a familiarity in Celeste that makes Jane sit with her in her home on lazy Sunday afternoons. Nursing tea and watching the twins play. She asks soft questions, and Jane murmurs answers into her drink. About Perry. About Ziggy. The apologies that she spouts that Jane insists she doesn’t need to say. And the empty condolences Jane refuses to even utter, it makes Jane grateful how Celeste just _understands_.

She feels guilty sometimes, that she’s relieved Perry’s dead.

(Then she remembers the screaming, Celeste’s bruises that are still healing, and instead she takes a sip of her tea and forgets)

And during these times with Celeste, Madeline is always a text away, a smiley face or a “how’s tea?” that makes Jane smile every time.

  _You: It’s tea Madeline. Is it supposed to be text worthy?_

_Maddy: Only with you duh._

 “Who you smiling at?” Celeste’s teasing voice filters through the air, and Jane looks up from her phone a moment frowning in confusion with a slight smile and a shrug.

 “I was smiling? Didn’t even realize”

 “Oh okay Miss coy,” Celeste laughs, sipping from her tea and replying. “Well, whoever it is has you _smiling_ , never thought I’d see the day”

Jane rolls her eyes and throws a couch pillow at a laughing Celeste. “Shut up”

Celeste gets into one of her giggle fits, and Jane locks her phone, confused at how her chest warms. How her brain seems to say to her heart: “Really? Madeline?”

Jane shakes her head, finishes her tea, and listens to Celeste’s unrestrained laugh. Listens to the ocean outside the window.

 

 

 

-

 

 “I heard you got that job you’ve been muttering about for weeks”

Madeline sits across from Jane at their café, stirring her coffee with a smile as the sun catches her blonde hair. Jane tries not to notice it, how her eyes light up so easily, but here she is, just…lost. (She honestly curses her bisexuality sometimes)

 “Jane? Earth to Chapman?”

Jane blinks as she leans on her forearms, chuckling in embarrassment. “Sorry, I’m,”

 “Little lost?”

Madeline ‘boops’ her nose, laughing as Jane scrunches up her nose and answers, swiping at the other woman’s hand as she laughs along with her. “Yeah something like that”

Madeline falls back with an eyebrow raised, flicking a strand of her hair out of her eyes.

 “You do that a lot”

Jane furrows her brows, reaching for her own mug and letting her fingers curl around the handle. “Hmm?”

And Madeline licks foam from her lips with a thoughtful expression, and Jane _really_ can’t help her eyes from lingering. “Shy away from my touch. Not in an obvious way more a-“ Madeline waves her unoccupied hand in the air as if she could pluck the word she’s searching for from the space between them, and settles on: “-subtle way”

Jane frowns, running her hand through her hair. “I do?” _She does? Of all people…_

Madeline reaches across the table, lets her hand settle on Jane’s forearm and pats it with a shrug. “I’m not complaining, just curious”

 “Uh,”

And Jane’s completely at a loss for words, laughing awkwardly and scratching the back of her head as she leans back. Tapping her nails on the table as Madeline sits patiently with a smile. Oh, Jane _knows_ why she’s like this. It’s just hard to admit to herself.

 “I dunno, I guess I’m just…still uncomfortable with touch, ya know?”

Madeline gives her a “I’m not buying your bull shit” look and replies. “ I’ve seen you give Bonnie piggy back rides babe”

Jane laughs, rolling her eyes with a “Fine! Better?” as she reaches across their drinks and takes Madeline’s hand. Intertwining their fingers and rubbing her thumb across Madeline’s knuckles. And Madeline seems slightly taken aback, sighing with a laugh as she tries to hide her blush.

 “Yeah yeah. Better. Dork”

She looks to Jane, how the younger girl is biting her lip, smiling along with her. Looking so _small_ and beautiful it takes Madeline’s breath away. The air is charged, like standing atop a mountain during a storm and Jane wonders if the hairs on her neck are standing up.

They keep their hands there, until their coffees are cold and until the sun sets behind their heads.

 

 

 

 

 

-

 

It all happens really _really_ fast.

No one knows how Jane suddenly ends up on the kitchen counter, fingers running through Madeline’s hair, tugging softly but urgently. Madeline can’t fucking even remember her own middle name with the way Jane kisses her, the way she wraps her legs around Madeline’s legs and pulls her closer.

And _god_ kissing Jane is like kissing sunshine, as if Madeline couldn’t even notice the soap suds from cleaning the dishes running down her wrist and wetting Jane’s shirt from where she holds her. As if she forgot that prior to where they are now, it started with harmless flirting and laughing and hands touching under hot soapy water.

(Which then turned into a shared look as laughter trailed off, Jane’s breath hitching, and Madeline closing the space between them because Jane Chapman underneath the moonlight that filters through the windows is the most _beautiful_ sight Madeline’s ever seen)

 “Fuck”

Jane’s moan brings the older woman out of her stupor, and Madeline leans back from Jane’s lips with a reluctant pull.

 “Wow”

Jane laughs into the space between them, biting her lip and whispering. God, she feels as if she even _talked_ it would slice the moment in half. “Yeah”

Madeline closes her eyes, shaking her head with a laugh as she breathes in the moment. The sound of the ocean outside her window, Jane’s proximity, her perfume, how she _feels_ underneath her fingertips. “Honestly the last time I spontaneously did something like that was _years_ ago”

Jane raises an eyebrow in jest, playing with the buttons of Madeline’s shirt, making the other woman look down to her fingers with a smile. “Oh, so I’m just a spontaneous one off?”

And Madeline looks back up to Jane, and although the younger women is clearly joking, Madeline still furrows her brows as she glides her hand up Jane’s neck; letting her fingers caress lightly to her jawline. It makes Jane smile confusedly, about to question Madeline’s sudden touch and change but the older woman beats her to it. Kissing her in the spot she smoothes her thumb over.

 “I know it’s cheesy but,”

Jane lets her head lull slightly at Madeline’s lips, closing her eyes to the feeling. “But?”

 “You’re totally my masterpiece”

 “Did you just steal my line?”

 “Sure did”

 “Fucker”

Madeline laughs as she nips at Jane’s neck, the night carries on, the ocean listens to their laughter. And Jane feels like she can be good again, that she _will._

 

 

-

 

(Except sometimes life isn’t a fairy-tale and it’s not always going to be _good._ Jane finds out in more ways than one, that with Madeline Mackenzie, “suppressed feelings” usually follows. It topples over Jane like waves. Stealing the breath from her lungs as she goes under)

 

 

-

 

“Let me guess, she still hasn’t called you? No text? Nothing?”

Jane sighs as Bonnie brings her tea, locking her phone and breathing in the herbal scent. “Nope”

 “It’s been _four days_ ”

Jane sucks in her bottom lip, nodding as she stares _anywhere_ but Bonnie’s deadpan look. “Yep”

Before she knows it, she has a gluten free muffin thrown at her head. “Hey!”

Bonnie rolls her eyes. “Jesus, do I have to say it? Go to her and either demand to know what’s going on, _or_ tell her whatever it is on your mind”

Jane groans, leaning back in Bonnie’s patio chair as she cranes her neck to the sky. “I don’t want to ruin it. You know, _us,”_ Jane then looks down, stares intently into her tea, and swirls it around with her pinky. “Whatever that is”

And Bonnie tucks her leg underneath her, taking a bite out of the muffin Jane rolled back to her as she speaks.

 “Madeline’s the one ruining it Jane; she loves you, I know that. But a little differently to how she loves the rest of us” At that, Jane takes a breath, and it all sinks in to her heart so rapidly as Bonnie continues talking, muffin crumbs on the table. _Madeline loves her Madeline loves her Madeline-_

 “Doesn’t mean she can ignore you like this, _treat_ you like this. She might be the stars Jane, but you’re the fucking sun”

 

 

 

 

-

 

Jane doesn’t know why she picked Sunday afternoon.

To her, Sundays are lazy and warm and calm, a day that melts over into the next week like a promise that _this_ week won’t be so hard.

So she’s standing on Madeline’s doorstep, holding to her elbows from the cold, as she rings the doorbell bouncing on her feet. “Shit”

(She _really_ should have brought a jumper. Monterey residents get greedy and nearly freeze when Summer turns to Winter)

And in the next moment, from shivering and holding to her arms tighter, Jane hears Madeline walking to the door. Opening it and nearly reeling when she sees who’s on the other side. She breathes Jane’s name out in surprise, there’s flour and baking soda stuck to her nose and apron. Jane stupidly falls again.

 “Oh, Jane”

Jane sticks her hands in her jean pockets, watches how Madeline wipes her own down her front.

And instead of the planned out night Jane thought of, asking for a glass of water and sitting in the warmth of Madeline’s kitchen, asking her _hey, four days is excessive. Why didn’t you answer my calls?_ Jane instead decides to wing it, and folds her arms across herself from both the cold, and her nervousness.

 “Wanna come for a walk?”

Madeline opens her mouth to answer, maybe use whatever she’s baking as an excuse.

(But fuck, if Madeline isn’t just _tired_ of running. She looks to Jane’s face, to the wisps of hair that escape her pony tail and god, four days is _too_ long and who does she think she is? Ignoring Jane and not giving her an answer because yes, Madeline Mackenzie is fucking scared. Petrified. Numb)

Because Jane Chapman lights something up in her chest. She creates this warmth and light Madeline thought she _lost._

So she closes her mouth, instead nods and says “Sure”, trying to ignore the way her heart skips at Jane’s answering smile.

 

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

“It’s weird,”

They’re walking along the beach when Madeline’s voice filters through the silence. They had been walking in comfortable quiet since leaving Madeline’s house, and Jane just enjoys how the sea salt air clears her senses, how the setting sun lights up Madeline’s eyes.

(She admits, she’s in too deep. But then Madeline glances at her with this _look_ and Jane doesn’t feel like a huge dork for thinking she’s the only one who feels it)

 “What’s weird?”

Madeline tightens her cardigan around her, they’re shoulders brush, and she nearly sinks into Jane’s warmth. “That for once I’m admitting I’m a total bitch”

Jane laughs lowly, and Madeline feels it against her side, so she moves closer as they walk. If Jane notices, she doesn’t comment, she just lets herself feel it too as she sarcastically replies. “It’s a miracle”

Madeline knocks her lightly with her elbow, and laughs along with the younger women as they fall into one another. She feels a tightness in her chest when Jane laughs, when she holds her, touches her, _kisses_ her. And God, would it be such a crime to kiss her again?

 “I’m sorry Jane, I just-“ Madeline stops in her tracks, sand squishing between her toes. And it makes Jane stop too with a frown, her hands in a borrowed jacket of Madeline’s as she waits. Jane watches how the older woman looks to the sky instead of her, as if she’d find the answers in the stars instead of Jane’s eyes.

 But then she looks down, moves closer, and Jane feels like the universe when Madeline holds to her jawline and breathes with her chest erratic.

 (As if the stars told her to just fucking go for it )

 “I’m really bad with words”

 “No shit” Jane breathes into the air between them. Smiling as the shorter woman presses closer.  

 “So I’m just going to kiss you and we’ll figure the rest out, yeah?”

Jane moves forward, taking Madeline’s lips in hers as she kisses her, laughing at the surprised gasp that leaves Madeline’s mouth. Letting her own hands come up and tangle lightly in the shorter woman’s hair. When she pulls back, Madeline has her eyes closed, her bottom lip in between her teeth as Jane smiles in waiting.

 “Just…give me a moment”

 “God you’re such a fucking dork”

They kiss again, melt into the other, and Jane feels Madeline’s laugh against her lips. She hears the ocean against her back, the sand beneath her feet, she imagines running the length of it like so many other times. But instead of the usual figure, it’s Madeline, standing at the shore with waves lapping at her feet.

The kiss deepens, Jane loses herself, and Madeline lets her arms wrap around the other woman’s neck.

(Madeline has never been more grateful for a twisted ankle)


End file.
